Apparatus, systems, and methods for authorization of electronic transactions based on secured zones

ABSTRACT

Electronic transaction systems and methods are operable to conduct transaction verification and authorization process for an electronic transaction. An exemplary embodiment determines location of a personal electronic device of a consumer during an electronic transaction; determines location of an electronic transaction device that the consumer is using to conduct the electronic transaction; determines a distance between the personal electronic device of the consumer and the electronic transaction device; compares the determined distance with a predefined distance; and verifies and authorizes the electronic transaction when the determined distance less than or equal to the predefined distance.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/660,759, filed Oct. 22, 2019, entitled “APPARATUS, SYSTEMSAND METHODS FOR STEMMED BLOCKCHAIN OPERATION WITH SECURED PARTICIPANTIDENTIFIERS,” which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/749,649, entitled “APPARATUS, SYSTEMS, AND METHODSFOR STEMMED BLOCKCHAIN OPERATION WITH SECURED PARTICIPANT IDENTIFIERS,”filed Oct. 23, 2018; which applications are incorporated herein byreference in their entireties

BACKGROUND

Consumers are conducting electronic transactions with increasingfrequency. Because of fraudulent individuals who are able to obtainfinancial information about the consumer and their financial accounts,the consumer is at risk for having such fraudulent individual access andsteal their assets and/or personal information using fraudulentelectronic transactions. Accordingly, there is a need in the arts tothwart the fraudulent individual's attempt to obtain such consumeridentity and account information.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods of providing secure electronic-based transactions toa consumer are disclosed. An exemplary embodiment employs a system thatcompares a distance between a determined location of a personalelectronic device of the consumer with the location of an electronictransaction. An example embodiment accesses a predefined distance. Thispredefined distance may be represented as a radius, or a secured zone,around the personal electronic device of the consumer. Then, if thedetermined location of the electronic transaction is within thepredefined distance from (within the secured zone of) the personalelectronic device of the consumer, the electronic transaction ispermitted.

Alternatively, or additionally, a predefined location is associated withthe predefined distance. An exemplary embodiment employs a system thatcompares a distance between the predefined location with the location ofthe electronic transaction. Then, if the determined location of theelectronic transaction is within the predefined distance from (withinthe secured zone of) the predefined location, the electronic transactionis permitted.

In some embodiments, the predefined distance is stored securely inblockchain information that is uniquely associated with the particularconsumer who is accessing their financial information to conduct anelectronic transaction. Since a blockchain is not accessible by afraudulent individual, the fraudulent individual will never have accessto the predefined distance that is necessary for verification of theelectronic transaction. Various other information that may be used toverify an electronic transaction may optionally be secured within theconsumer's blockchain information.

The predefined distance is a variable value that can be user-defined.For example, if the consumer is travelling in a foreign country, theconsumer may choose to decrease the length of the predefined distancefor the duration of their travels. Thus, the consumer can feel that anyelectronic transactions that they perform, such as accessing anautomated teller machine (ATM) for cash in the local country currency,may be performed in a secure and reliable manner. Further, in the eventthat their ATM card is lost or stolen, they will appreciate that theircard will be impossible to use for a fraudulent electronic transaction.Further, in the event of a lost or stolen ATM card, the consumer canimmediately modify the predefined distance that has been securely storedin their blockchain information to a different predefined distance, suchas a few inches or feet, or even no distance. (Then, if their misplacedATM card is later found by the consumer or if their lost ATM card isreturned to the consumer, the consumer can again change and securelystore the predefined distance into their secure blockchain informationso that they may continue to user their ATM card.)

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred and alternative embodiments are described in detail below withreference to the following drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a transactionauthorization system; and

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a transactionauthorization system;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a transactionauthorization system;

FIG. 4 is an example graphical user interface (GUI) that may bepresented to the consumer during the transaction verification andauthorization process;

FIG. 5 is a map-based version of a presented GUI; and

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an example transaction authorizationsystem.

FIG. 7 is an example flow diagram of an overview of the logic describedherein for conducting a transaction using secured zones as conducted byan electronic transaction verification system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a transactionauthorization system 100. The non-limiting illustrated embodiment of thetransaction authorization system 100 comprises at least one electronictransaction verification system 102 that is in communication with aelectronic mobile device 104 that is presumably in the personalpossession of a consumer conducting an electronic transaction and thatis in communication with an electronic transaction device 106.

The electronic transaction verification system 102 manages consumerblockchain information 108 that is uniquely associated with the consumerwho is conducting the electronic transaction. The blockchain information108 is conceptually illustrated as residing in a single block. Oneskilled in the art understands that in practice, the consumer blockchaininformation 108 resides in a distributed system of other electronicdevices that are communicatively coupled to the electronic transactionverification system 102 via the communication network 110. When atransaction verification and authorization process is underway, theelectronic transaction verification system 102 accesses thesedistributed locations so that the particular consumer informationresiding in the consumer blockchain information 108 may be accessed andused for transaction verification and authorization.

Further, the electronic transaction verification system 102, during anyparticular electronic transaction, manages the verification processwhereby an ongoing electronic transaction is verified and/or isauthorized for the consumer. In practice, the electronic transactionverification system 102 manages consumer blockchain information forthousands of, or more, individual consumer. Embodiments of thetransaction authorization system 100 has the capability of concurrentlymanaging the transaction verification and authorization process forthousands of, or more, electronic transactions.

The electronic transaction verification system 102 and the consumer'selectronic mobile device 104 are communicatively coupled together viathe communication system 110. The electronic transaction device 106 isalso communicatively coupled to the electronic transaction verificationsystem 102. Here, there is no need for the electronic transaction device106 to be communicatively coupled to the electronic mobile device 104.Further, if the consumer is using an optional transaction device 112,such as an ATM card or the like, to facilitate the electronictransaction, the transaction device 112 does not need to becommunicatively coupled to the consumer's electronic mobile device 104or to the electronic transaction verification system 102 for completionof the transaction verification and authorization process. Suchembodiments are inherently less complicated in architecture and/oroperation and may be implemented at a lower cost.

During a transaction, location information defining the location of theelectronic mobile device 104 is determined and is communicated to theelectronic transaction verification system 102. Also, locationinformation defining the location of the electronic transaction device106 is determined and is communicated to the electronic transactionverification system 102. Alternatively, or additionally, identityinformation that identifies the electronic transaction device 106 may beused to access a database wherein the location information of theelectronic transaction device 106 may be accessed and then provided tothe electronic transaction verification system 102.

Once the locations of the electronic mobile device 104 and theelectronic transaction device 106 are determined, the electronictransaction verification system 102 determines a distance between theelectronic mobile device 104 and the electronic transaction device 106.The electronic transaction verification system 102 then compares thedetermined distance between the electronic mobile device 104 and theelectronic transaction device 106 with a predefined distance,interchangeably referred to herein as a secured zone. If the determineddistance between the electronic mobile device 104 and the electronictransaction device 106 is less than or equal to the predefined distance,then some embodiments of the transaction authorization system 100determine that the electronic transaction may be verified and/orauthorized. In some embodiments, if the transaction authorization system100 determines that that the determined distance is not less than orequal to the predefined distance, then transaction authorization may bewithheld, may be delayed, and/or may be conditional upon an explicitauthorization from the consumer.

The location of the electronic mobile device 104 may be monitored on areal time basis. Accordingly, as the consumer moves from one location toanother, the secured zone effectively moves along with the changinglocation of the consumer and is thus dynamic.

The predefined distance, in some embodiments, is securely stored as partof the consumer blockchain information 108. During the transactionverification and authorization process, the electronic transactionverification system 102 accesses this secure predefined distance. Insome embodiments, the consumer has to authorize the electronictransaction verification system 102 to access the predefined distancefrom their secure consumer blockchain information 108 during theelectronic transaction.

FIG. 1 illustrates that the electronic mobile device 104 is incommunication with (is communicatively coupled to) the communicationnetwork 110 via a wireless signal 114. For example, the electronicmobile device 104 may be communicatively coupled to a cell tower of awireless system. As another non-limiting example, the electronic mobiledevice 104 may be communicatively coupled to a Wi-fi node that is partof the communication network 110. In other situations, the electronicmobile device 104 may be communicatively coupled to the communicationnetwork 110 via a wire-based connector, such as when the electronicmobile device 104 is a personal computer, laptop device, personalassistant or the like where the consumer is using the wire connector toconnect their electronic mobile device 104 to the communication network110.

FIG. 1 further illustrates that the electronic transaction device 106 isin communication with (is communicatively coupled to) the communicationnetwork 110 via a wireless signal 116. In other situations, theelectronic transaction device 106 may be communicatively coupled to thecommunication network 110 via a wire-based connector, such as when theelectronic transaction device 106 is part of a networked system that ismanaged and controlled by a financial institution or other institution.

The communication network 110 is illustrated as a generic communicationsystem. In one embodiment, the communication network 110 comprises acellular telephone system, such as a radio frequency (RF) wirelesssystem. Accordingly, the electronic mobile device 104 and/or theelectronic transaction device 106 includes a suitable transceiver.Alternatively, the communication network 110 may be a telephony system,the Internet, a Wi-fi system, a microwave communication system, a fiberoptics system, an intranet system, a local access network (LAN) system,an Ethernet system, a cable system, a radio frequency system, a cellularsystem, an infrared system, a satellite system, or a hybrid systemcomprised of multiple types of communication media. Additionally,embodiments of the transaction authorization system 100 may beimplemented using other types of communication technologies, such as butnot limited to, digital subscriber loop (DSL), X.25, Internet Protocol(IP), Ethernet, Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) andasynchronous transfer mode (ATM). Also, embodiments of the transactionauthorization system 100 may be configured to communicate overcombination systems having a plurality of segments which employdifferent formats for each segment that employ different technologies oneach segment.

In operation, the consumer initiates an electronic transaction at theelectronic transaction device 106. The electronic transaction device 106communicates with the electronic transaction verification system 102 toinitiate the transaction verification and authorization process.Alternatively, or additionally, the transaction verification andauthorization process may be initiated by the consumer who uses theirelectronic mobile device 104 to start the electronic transaction.

Then, in an example embodiment, the electronic transaction verificationsystem 102 is provided and/or obtains location information that definesthe location of the electronic transaction device 106, and thereforethat defines the location of the ongoing electronic transaction. Then,the electronic transaction verification system 102 accesses or obtainscurrent location information (in real time or near-real time) for theconsumer's electronic mobile device 104. Presumably, the consumer is inthe immediate vicinity of and/or is in possession of their electronicmobile device 104. If the determined distance between the electronicmobile device 104 and the electronic transaction device 106 is withinthe predefined distance, then embodiments of the transactionauthorization system 100 may infer that the consumer is the authorizedperson who is conducting the ongoing electronic transaction. Therefore,the electronic transaction may then be permitted to go to completion bythe transaction authorization system 100.

On the other hand, if the determined distance between the electronicmobile device 104 and the electronic transaction device 106 is greaterthan the predefined distance, then embodiments of the transactionauthorization system 100 may infer that the consumer is not the personwho is conducting the ongoing electronic transaction. That is,embodiments may infer that a fraudulent individual is attempting toconduct the electronic transaction. Therefore, the electronictransaction may then be prevented from going to completion by thetransaction authorization system 100.

In the various embodiments, the consumer has the ability to control thevalue of the predefined distance that is used during the transactionverification and authorization process. The user may specify this value,in any suitable metric, prior to the initiation of the electronictransaction. The user-defined predefined distance may be expressed as aradius distance. Here, the distance between a determinable location ofthe electronic transaction device 106 and the electronic mobile device104 is readily comparable to a radius distance value.

In some embodiments, the consumer is permitted to enable or disableoperation of the transaction authorization system 100. Alternatively, oradditionally, the consumer may be allowed to activate or deactivate thesecurity zone. Here, the transaction verification and authorizationprocess may be based on other or additional information, such as thesecure information residing in the consumer blockchain information 108.

Alternatively, or additionally, the predefined distance may be specifiedby any authorized third party. For example, a particular predefineddistance may be specified by a credit card company for credit card-basedelectronic transactions. Here, if the consumer is using their creditcard for an electronic transaction, the predefined distance specified bythe credit card company is used during the transaction verification andauthorization process. If another type of financial instrument is usedby the consumer, a different predefined distance is used for thetransaction verification and authorization process.

Alternatively, or additionally, other geometry forms may be used definethe predefined distance. For example, a square, an oval, or othergeometric shape, or polygon may be used. An outline of a knownstructure, such as a shopping mall or other location where an electronictransaction is likely to occur, may be used. In some embodiments, aplurality of different predefined distances may be used, wherein one ofa plurality of predefined distances is selected depending upon theparticular situation of the electronic transaction. For example, but notlimited to, a radius value may be used when the consumer is conductingthe electronic transaction at an ATM device. In a situation where theconsumer is at a shopping mall, the predefined distance defined by theextents of the shopping mall may be used to verify and authorize pointof purchase transaction occurring within the shopping mall. Any suitablegeometry that defines the predefined distance are contemplated by thevarious embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a transactionauthorization system. One skilled in the art appreciates that the actuallocation of the consumer's electronic mobile device 104 may not bedeterminable or may not be determinable with any reliable degree ofaccuracy. However, the electronic mobile device 104 may be incommunication with another intermediate device 202 wherein the locationof that device is known and/or is determinable. For example, theelectronic mobile device 104 may be wirelessly communicating with a cellphone tower, a Wi-fi node, or the like (the intermediate device 202) viawireless signal 204. The intermediate device 202 may then use a wirelesssignal 206 (or a wire-based connector) to communicatively couple theelectronic mobile device 104 to the communication network 110.

Here, since the electronic mobile device 104 is communicatively coupledto the electronic transaction verification system 102 via theintermediate device 202, and since the location of the intermediatedevice 202 is known and/or may be determinable, the location of theintermediate device 202 may be used as a proxy location for the consumerand/or for the consumer's electronic mobile device 104 for thetransaction verification and authorization process.

Further, in some embodiments, once the nature or characteristic of theintermediate device 202 is determined, a different predefined distancemay be used to perform the transaction verification and authorizationprocess. For example, the electronic mobile device 104 may beprovisioned with a global positioning system (GPS) that can be used toprecisely determine the location of the electronic mobile device 104.However, at times, the GPS system may be turned off, may be inactive, ormay be inoperable. In such a situation, since the exact location of theelectronic mobile device 104 cannot be obtained from the onboard GPS,then a proxy location can be determined from the location of theintermediate device 202. To illustrate, the consumer may be travellingin an automobile, an aircraft or other vehicle where determination of alocation of the electronic mobile device 104 is not practical. Thetransaction may be occurring at an electronic transaction device 106that is part of the vehicle. When then transaction authorization system100 determines that the ongoing transaction is occurring, and that thelocation of the consumer is being approximated by the determined proxylocation of the intermediate device 202, then a different predefineddistance may be used for the transaction verification and authorizationprocess. For example, if the intermediate device 202 is a cell tower,the predefined distance may need to be adjusted and enlarged as comparedto situations where the location of the transaction authorization system100 can be accurately determined. In the case of an aircraft, arelatively small predefined distance may be used as compared to thepredefined distance that is used to verify and authenticate an ATM orpoint of purchase transaction since a reasonable inference may be madethat the consumer is on board the aircraft. Conversely, if theconsumer's electronic mobile device 104 does not have an operable GPS, arelatively large predefined distance may be used as compared to thepredefined distance that is used to verify and authenticate an ATM orpoint of purchase transaction.

In some situations, the electronic transaction verification system 102may be in communication with the electronic mobile device 104. Theconsumer may use a suitable secure interface to specify their currentlocation as the proxy location for their electronic mobile device 104.Preferably, in such situations, additional levels of security and/orauthorization (such as personal identification numbers, pins, passwords,and other forms for identity verification) are used to ensure that theuser-specified proxy location is not being provided by a fraudulentindividual.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a transactionauthorization system. In this example non-limiting embodiment, a knownlocation is used as the proxy location for the transaction verificationand authorization process. Here, the known location is compared with thedetermined location of the electronic transaction device 106. Forexample, the consumer may be at a shopping mall or other location, area,geographic region, or the like. To illustrate, the user may beattempting to obtain cash at an ATM, may be attempting to make a paymentor obtain cash at a bank, and/or may be attempting to purchase a productor service at a store (interchangeably referred to herein in as a pointof purchase transaction). As another example, the consumer may be at anevent (such as a stadium, a farmer's market, or other venue) where avendor is using a portable electronic transaction device 106 to conductthe electronic transaction.

Embodiments of the transaction authorization system 100 determine alocation proximate to the ongoing electronic transaction that isassociated with a known location 302. The known location 302 isassociated with a predefined distance. The transaction verification andauthorization process may then be performed based on the known location,the associated predefined distance, and the determined location of theelectronic transaction device 106.

FIG. 7 is an example flow diagram of an overview of the logic describedherein for conducting a transaction using secured zones as conducted byan electronic transaction verification system such as site 102 inFIG. 1. In block 701, the logic receives notification of an initiatedconsumer transaction such as initiated at electronic transaction device106 or by the consumer's electronic mobile device 104. In block 702, thelogic determines a location of the electronic mobile device or a proxyfor this device if, for example, a location of the mobile device 104 isnot accessible or cannot be determined accurately. This location may bea known location (such as a shopping mall) or an intermediate devicelocation such as a cellular network tower.

In block 703, the logic of the transaction verification systemdetermines a predefined distance between the device (or its proxy,including a known location) and the transaction device. In exampleembodiments, determining this predefined (consumer specific) distance isaccomplished using block chain information that is specific and privateto the consumer, i.e., secure, such as described in detail in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 16/660,759, filed Oct. 22, 2019, entitled“APPARATUS, SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR STEMMED BLOCKCHAIN OPERATION WITHSECURED PARTICIPANT IDENTIFIERS,” which is incorporated here byreference in its entirety. Other blockchain systems and protocols may besimilarly incorporated.

In block 704, the secured zone (the predefined distance) may be modifiedby the consumer or by the transaction verification system. For example,the secured zone may be made smaller or enlarged based upon data such asthe nature of the transaction device, the type of transaction, thelocation or nature or characteristic of the known location orintermediate device, and the like. In addition, the secured zone may beadjusted at other times such as “on demand” by the consumer, at settimes, or by the transaction verification system itself.

In block 705 the logic determines whether the determined location of thedevice or its proxy is within the determined secured zone (thepredefined distance). If so, the transaction is authorized in block 706.If not, the transaction is rejected in block 707, and the verificationsystem may notify the consumer. Alternatively, the transaction may be“suspended” until the consumer is able to verify it by some alternativemeans.

In an example embodiment, the consumer may initiate a communication withthe electronic transaction verification system 102 and specify theircurrent location and/or specify the known location. For example, theconsumer may indicate that they are in a particular venue such as astadium. As another non-limiting example, the consumer may specify thatthey are currently in a particular city, town, or other identifiableregion. The user-specified location may then be used for any occurringelectronic transactions while the consumer is at or is nearby theuser-specified location. Preferably, in such situations, additionallevels of security and/or authorization (such as personal identificationnumbers, pins, passwords, or answers to particular questions) are usedto ensure that the user-specified proxy location is not being providedby a fraudulent individual.

Alternatively, or additionally, information pertaining to pastelectronic transactions that have been previously verified andauthorized is stored within the secure blockchain information 108. Aftersome duration, embodiments of the transaction authorization system 100may learn that the consumer is frequently located at a particular knownlocation. One skilled in the art appreciates that there are likely to bea plurality of such known locations that the consumer frequents. Oncethe location of the electronic transaction device 106 is determined, thedetermined location of the electronic transaction device 106 can becompared with the plurality of known locations that the consumer isfrequently at. Since the consumer blockchain information 108 is secure,it is not possible for a fraudulent individual access the secureconsumer blockchain information 108 to learn about these known locationsthat are associated with the consumer.

As noted herein, the predefined distance may be represented using anysuitable geometry. For example, if the known location 302 is associatedwith a building or other predefined region, the predefined distance maybe represented using the geometry of the known location. For example,but not limited to, if the known location is a building that has one ormore stores or is a field where a farmer's market in typically held, thepredefined distance may be represented using a rectangle 304. Anysuitable geometry may be used for the predefined distance that isassociated with a known location.

FIG. 4 is an example graphical user interface (GUI) 402 that may bepresented to the consumer during the transaction verification andauthorization process. In this non-limiting example of an ongoingtransaction verification and authorization process, the consumerreceives a message from the electronic transaction verification system102 that is presented on a display 404 of their electronic mobile device104, here conceptually illustrated as the well-known cell phone or smartphone. The GUI 402 indicates that an electronic transaction isoccurring, presents information about the transaction, and a provides aquery requesting that the user authenticate the transaction and/or totake immediate security measures in the event that they are notconducting the electronic transaction. Any suitable GUI 402 thatcommunicates information to the consumer during an ongoing electronictransaction is contemplated by the various embodiments.

In some embodiments, if a particular electronic transaction is denied bythe transaction authorization system 100, an alarm or other suitablenotification is sent to the consumer's electronic mobile device 104 oranother device that is being used by or that is accessible to theconsumer. Accordingly, the consumer may be informed that a potentiallyfraudulent electronic transaction has been denied, and that they shouldtake corrective and/or precautionary actions to safeguard theirproperty. Any suitable visual, haptic, and/or auditory warning or alarmmay be generated and communicated to the consumer's electronic mobiledevice 104 or another suitable device. Further, the warning or alarm canbe communicated to other entities, such as a bank or other financialintuitions, or even the consumer's spouse, friend or other closepersonal contact.

The GUI 402 is configured to permit the consumer to input anyinformation back to the electronic transaction verification system 102via actuation of one or more of the controllers 406 residing on thesurface of the electronic mobile device 104. Any suitable GUI 402 thatenables the consumer to input information during an ongoing electronictransaction is contemplated by the various embodiments. Some embodimentsmay require the consumer to input confidential and secret informationthat is known only to the consumer. Information corresponding to ormatching with the input provided by the consumer may be securely storedin the consumer blockchain information 108. In response to receiving theinformation from the consumer, the electronic transaction may then beverified and/or authenticated, thereby permitting the electronictransaction to move to completion.

In the various embodiments, the electronic transaction device 106 wasgenerically and conceptually described as a device that the consumer isinteracting with or is using to conduct an electronic transaction.Embodiments of the transaction authorization system 100 are configuredto facilitate electronic transactions with any electronic transactiondevice now known or later developed. Non-limiting example of electronictransaction devices 106 include automatic payment systems such as tollroad collection points, an Internet of things (IoT) device, a creditcard reader, a robot device, an artificial intelligence (AI) device, oreven a web site. The various electronic transaction devices 106 may bestationary in a fixed location or may be mobile.

For example, the consumer may wish to make an electronic transaction forpayment of a house mortgage or automobile payment to their local bank.In one instance, the consumer may go to the local bank and use one oftheir automated devices to conduct the electronic transaction payment.Since the consumer is in physical proximity of the bank's electronictransaction device 106, a relatively short first predefined distance maybe used during the transaction verification and authorization process.On the other hand, the consumer may log onto a website of the localbank. Here, a proxy location of the bank website may be used, and alocation of the consumer's personal computer (such as their home) may beused to determine the distance between the consumer and the bank's website. Here, a greater second predefined distance, selected based on theknown characteristics of the bank's electronic transaction device 106,here the internet web site, to conduct the transaction verification andauthorization process. Enhanced security for such example electronictransactions is provided when various information used during thetransaction verification and authorization process is securely stored inthe consumer blockchain information 108 associated with that particularconsumer.

In the various embodiments, any suitable currency type and/or currencydenomination now known or later developed may be used. In someembodiments, the consumer may select which particular currency from aplurality of different currencies are to be used for all of, or a partof, the electronic transaction. For example, but not limited to, thetransaction authorization system 100 may permit payment using bank fundsavailable at a local or remote financial institution, foreign currencyfunds available at an overseas institution, an electronic payment system(such a PayPal or Google money), credit available from a financialorganization (such as a credit card, home or personal equity line ofcredit, etc.) credits available from the vendor who is a participant inthe electronic transaction, an electronic wallet or the like, or a formof crypto-currency, digital tokens, or the like.

FIG. 5 is a map-based version of a presented GUI 502. In suchembodiments, the GUI 502 may be presented as a map or other geographicbased graphic. The map may show current location 504 of the electronicmobile device 104, a location of the electronic transaction device 106being used for the electronic transaction (shown as a red dot in thecenter of the circular secure zone), locations of other potentialelectronic transaction device that are within the secure zone that mightbe used by the consumer to conduct an electronic transaction (shown as ared dot), and the predefined secure zone 506. Here, the consumer willintuitively understand the nature of the predefined distance relative totheir electronic mobile device 104 and the electronic transaction device106. In some situations, the map information may prompt the consumer tochange the value of the predefined distance.

FIG. 6 is an example block diagram of an example computing system thatmay be used to practice embodiments of a electronic transactionverification system 102 described herein. Note that one or more generalpurpose virtual or physical computing systems suitably instructed or aspecial purpose computing system may be used to implement an electronictransaction verification system 102. Further, the electronic transactionverification system 102 may be implemented in software, hardware,firmware, or in some combination to achieve the capabilities describedherein.

Note that one or more general purpose or special purpose computingsystems/devices may be used to implement the described techniques.However, just because it is possible to implement the electronictransaction verification system 102 on a general purpose computingsystem does not mean that the techniques themselves or the operationsrequired to implement the techniques are conventional or well known.

The computing system 600 may comprise one or more server and/or clientcomputing systems and may span distributed locations. In addition, eachblock shown may represent one or more such blocks as appropriate to aspecific embodiment or may be combined with other blocks. Moreover, thevarious blocks of the transaction authorization system 100 mayphysically reside on one or more machines, which use standard (e.g.,TCP/IP) or proprietary interprocess communication mechanisms tocommunicate with each other.

In the embodiment shown, computer system 600 comprises a computer memory(“memory”) 601, a display 602, one or more Central Processing Units(“CPU”) 603, Input/Output devices 604 (e.g., keyboard, mouse, CRT or LCDdisplay, etc.), other computer-readable media 605, and one or morenetwork connections 606. The consumer blockchain information 108 isshown residing in memory 601. In other embodiments, some portion of thecontents, some of, or all of the components of the electronictransaction verification system 102 may be stored on and/or transmittedover the other computer-readable media 607. The components of theelectronic transaction verification system 102 preferably execute on oneor more CPUs 603 and manage the transaction verification andauthorization process, as described herein. Other code or programs 607and potentially other data repositories, such as data repository 608,also optionally reside in the memory 601, and preferably execute on oneor more CPUs 603 (and/or processors 603 a). Of note, one or more of thecomponents in FIG. 6 may not be present in any specific implementation.For example, some embodiments embedded in other software may not providemeans for user input or display.

In a typical embodiment, the electronic transaction verification system102 includes one or more engines or components 609-612 that concurrentlymanage a plurality of ongoing electronic transactions for a plurality ofdifferent consumers. In some embodiments, multiple engines are availableto manage various functions during a transaction verification andauthorization process. An example engine is a location determinationengine 609 that receives location information for the electronic mobiledevice 104 and/or the electronic transaction device 106 for thedetermination of the respective locations. A distance comparison engine610 manages the comparison of the distance between the electronic mobiledevice 104 and the electronic transaction device 106 with the predefineddistance. A user identity information engine 611 manages confirmation ofa consumer's identification during the transaction verification andauthorization process. An authorization and notice engine 612 managesthe authorization process one a valid electronic transaction has beenidentified, and/or generation of notifications to the consumer, such asif the electronic transaction has been authorized or denied. Embodimentsmay include other engines not described herein that manage otheroperations pertaining to the transaction verification and authorizationprocess and/or that pertain to other functions occurring at theelectronic transaction verification system 102.

In at least some embodiments, the electronic transaction devices 106 areexternal to the electronic transaction verification system 102 and areavailable, potentially, over one or more networks 110. Other and/ordifferent modules may be implemented. In addition, the electronictransaction verification system 102 may interact via the network 110 oneor more third-party information provider systems 613, such as purveyorsof information used in consumer blockchain information 108. Also, ofnote, the consumer blockchain information 108 may be provided externalto the electronic transaction verification system 102 as well, forexample in a distributed architecture at a plurality of devices or thelike accessible over one or more networks 110.

In an example embodiment, components/modules of the electronictransaction verification system 102 are implemented using standardprogramming techniques. For example, the electronic transactionverification system 102 may be implemented as a “native” executablerunning on the CPU 603 (and/or the processor 603 a), along with one ormore static or dynamic libraries. In other embodiments, the electronictransaction verification system 102 may be implemented as instructionsprocessed by a virtual machine. A range of programming languages knownin the art may be employed for implementing such example embodiments,including representative implementations of various programming languageparadigms, including but not limited to, object-oriented (e.g., Java,C++, C #, Visual Basic.NET, Smalltalk, and the like), functional (e.g.,ML, Lisp, Scheme, and the like), procedural (e.g., C, Pascal, Ada,Modula, and the like), scripting (e.g., Perl, Ruby, Python, JavaScript,VBScript, and the like), and declarative (e.g., SQL, Prolog, and thelike).

The embodiments described above may also use well-known or proprietary,synchronous or asynchronous client-server computing techniques. Also,the various components may be implemented using more monolithicprogramming techniques, for example, as an executable running on asingle CPU computer system, or alternatively decomposed using a varietyof structuring techniques known in the art, including but not limitedto, multiprogramming, multithreading, client-server, or peer-to-peer,running on one or more computer systems each having one or more CPUs.Some embodiments may execute concurrently and asynchronously andcommunicate using message passing techniques. Equivalent synchronousembodiments are also supported. Also, other functions could beimplemented and/or performed by each component/module, and in differentorders, and in different components/modules, yet still achieve thedescribed functions.

In addition, programming interfaces to the data stored as part of theelectronic transaction verification system 102 (e.g., in the datarepositories 108) can be available by standard mechanisms such asthrough C, C++, C #, and Java APIs; libraries for accessing files,databases, or other data repositories; through scripting languages suchas XML; or through Web servers, FTP servers, or other types of serversproviding access to stored data. The electronic transaction verificationsystem 102 may be implemented as one or more database systems, filesystems, or any other technique for storing such information, or anycombination of the above, including implementations using distributedcomputing techniques.

Also, the example electronic transaction verification system 102 may beimplemented in a distributed environment comprising multiple, evenheterogeneous, computer systems and networks. Different configurationsand locations of programs and data are contemplated for use withtechniques of described herein. In addition, the electronic transactionverification system 102 may be physical or virtual computing systems andmay reside on the same physical system. Also, one or more of the modulesmay themselves be distributed, pooled or otherwise grouped, such as forload balancing, reliability or security reasons (such as the blockchaininformation 108). A variety of distributed computing techniques areappropriate for implementing the components of the illustratedembodiments in a distributed manner including but not limited to TCP/IPsockets, RPC, RMI, HTTP, Web Services (XML-RPC, JAX-RPC, SOAP, etc.) andthe like. Other variations are possible. Also, other functionality couldbe provided by each component/module, or existing functionality could bedistributed amongst the components/modules in different ways, yet stillachieve the functions of the transaction verification system 102.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, some or all of the components of theelectronic transaction verification system 102 may be implemented orprovided in other manners, such as at least partially in firmware and/orhardware, including, but not limited to one or more application-specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), standard integrated circuits, controllersexecuting appropriate instructions, and including microcontrollersand/or embedded controllers, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), and the like. Some or all ofthe system components and/or data structures may also be stored ascontents (e.g., as executable or other machine-readable softwareinstructions or structured data) on a computer-readable medium (e.g., ahard disk; memory; network; other computer-readable medium; or otherportable media article to be read by an appropriate drive or via anappropriate connection, such as a DVD or flash memory device) to enablethe computer-readable medium to execute or otherwise use or provide thecontents to perform at least some of the described techniques. Some orall of the components and/or data structures may be stored on tangible,non-transitory storage mediums. Some or all of the system components anddata structures may also be stored as data signals (e.g., by beingencoded as part of a carrier wave or included as part of an analog ordigital propagated signal) on a variety of computer-readabletransmission mediums, which are then transmitted, including acrosswireless-based and wired/cable-based mediums, and may take a variety offorms (e.g., as part of a single or multiplexed analog signal, or asmultiple discrete digital packets or frames). Such computer programproducts may also take other forms in other embodiments. Accordingly,embodiments of this disclosure may be practiced with other computersystem configurations.

Exhibit I is an example business environment that utilizes one or moreof the embodiments of the transaction authorization system 100.Embodiments of the transaction authorization system 100 are envisionedto be used by a limitless number of different types of transactionalsystems now known or later developed.

Exhibit II is a conceptual operational scenario of a non-limitingembodiment of the transaction authorization system 100. An image of amap-based GUI is conceptually illustrated in Exhibit II.

All of the above U.S. patents, U.S. patent application publications,U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patent applicationsand non-patent publications referred to in this specification and/orlisted in the Application Data Sheet are incorporated herein byreference, in their entireties.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specificembodiments have been described herein for purposes of illustration,various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit andscope of the invention. It should be emphasized that the above-describedembodiments of the transaction authorization system 100 are merelypossible examples of implementations of the invention. Many variationsand modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments. Allsuch modifications and variations are intended to be included hereinwithin the scope of this disclosure and protected by the followingclaims. For example, the methods and systems for performing discussedherein are applicable to other architectures Also, the methods andsystems discussed herein are applicable to differing protocols,communication media (optical, wireless, cable, etc.) and devices (suchas wireless handsets, electronic organizers, personal digitalassistants, portable email machines, game machines, pagers, navigationdevices such as GPS receivers, etc.).

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method in a transaction verificationcomputing system for electronic transaction verification andauthorization, the method comprising: automatically, and by a processorof the transaction verification computing system: receiving anindication of an initiated electronic transaction from an electronictransaction device having a physical location; determining a location ofa personal electronic device of a consumer during the electronictransaction; determining a location of the electronic transaction devicethat is being used to conduct the electronic transaction; determining adistance between the personal electronic device of the consumer and theelectronic transaction device; determining a first predefined distancethat indicates a first secured zone from the personal electronic deviceto conduct electronic transactions by retrieving blockchain informationthat is uniquely associated with the consumer and not accessible bypersons other than the consumer; comparing the determined distance withthe first secured zone to automatically determine whether the determineddistance is within the first secured zone; and when the comparison withthe first secured zone indicates that the determined distance is withinthe first secured zone, automatically verifying and authorizing theelectronic transaction; when the comparison with the first secured zoneindicates that the determined distance is not within the first securedzone, determining a second predefined distance that indicates a secondsecured zone from the personal electronic device to conduct electronictransactions by retrieving second blockchain information that isuniquely associated with the consumer and not accessible by personsother than the consumer, wherein the second predefined distanceindicates a predefined distance from a proxy for the physical locationof the electronic transaction device determined by characteristics ofthe electronic transaction device; comparing the determined distancewith the second secured zone to automatically determine whether thedetermined distance is within the second secured zone; and when thecomparison with the second secured zone indicates that the determineddistance is within the second secured zone, automatically verifying andauthorizing the electronic transaction; and causing a graphical userinterface of the personal electronic device to present on a display ofthe personal electronic device an indication of the first predefineddistance for determining whether the transaction is authorized and toexecute logic configured to allow the consumer to adjust the firstpredefined distance to a larger or smaller distance.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the electronic transaction is verified when thedetermined distance is less than or equal to the first predefineddistance.
 3. The method of dam 1 wherein the location of the personalelectronic device is determined from an intermediate device with a knownlocation.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the graphical user interfaceis a map and the predefined distance is displayed as a shape relative toan indication of the determined location of the electronic transactiondevice that the consumer is using to conduct the electronic transaction.5. The method of claim 4 wherein the shape is at least one of ageometric shape, a polygon, or a building outline.
 6. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the indication of an electronic transaction is receivedfrom the personal electronic device of the consumer or the electronictransaction device.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:rejecting the electronic transaction when the determined distance is notwithin the first predefined distance and the second predefined distance.8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: receiving an indication ofthe adjusted first predefined distance; and comparing the determineddistance between the personal electronic device of the consumer and theelectronic transaction device with the adjusted first predefineddistance to determine whether the determined distance is within theadjusted first predefined distance.
 9. A non-transitory computerreadable memory medium in a transaction verification computing systemcontaining instructions for controlling a computer processor whenexecuted to perform a method for electronic transaction verification andauthorization comprising: automatically, and by the computer processorof the transaction verification computing system: determining a locationof a personal electronic device of a consumer during an initiatedelectronic transaction; determining a location of an electronictransaction device that the consumer is using to conduct the initiatedelectronic transaction, the electronic transaction device having aphysical location; determining a distance between the personalelectronic device of the consumer and the electronic transaction device;determining a first predefined distance that indicates a first securedzone from the personal electronic device to conduct electronictransactions by retrieving blockchain information that is uniquelyassociated with the consumer and not accessible by persons other thanthe consumer; comparing the determined distance with the first securedzone to automatically determine whether the determined distance iswithin the first secured zone; when the comparison with the firstsecured zone indicates that the determined distance is within the firstsecured zone, automatically verifying and authorizing the initiatedelectronic transaction; when the comparison with the first secured zoneindicates that the determined distance is not within the first securedzone, determining a second predefined distance that indicates a secondsecured zone from the personal electronic device to conduct electronictransactions by retrieving second blockchain information that isuniquely associated with the consumer and not accessible by personsother than the consumer, wherein the second predefined distanceindicates a predefined distance from a proxy for the physical locationof the electronic transaction device determined by characteristics ofthe electronic transaction device; comparing the determined distancewith the second secured zone to automatically determine whether thedetermined distance is within the second secured zone; and when thecomparison with the second secured zone indicates that the determineddistance is within the second secured zone, automatically verifying andauthorizing the electronic transaction; when the comparison with thefirst secured zone and the comparison with the second secured zoneindicate that the determined distance k neither within the first securedzone or the second secured zone, rejecting the initiated electronictransaction; and causing a graphical user interface of the personalelectronic device to present on a display of the personal electronicdevice an indication of the first predefined distance for determiningwhether the transaction is authorized and to execute logic configured toallow the consumer to adjust the first predefined distance to a largeror smaller distance.
 10. An electronic transaction authorization system,comprising: a block chain ledger system storing a block chain datastructure and ledger of a first predefined distance unique to a consumerand a second predefined distance unique to the consumer; and atransaction verification system having a processor which is configuredto automatically determine whether a transaction is authorized by:determining a physical location of a personal electronic device of theconsumer during an initiated electronic transaction; determining aphysical location of an electronic transaction device being used toconduct an initiated electronic transaction; determining a distancebetween the personal electronic device of the consumer and theelectronic transaction device; retrieving a first predefined distancefrom the block chain ledger system for the initiated electronictransaction; comparing the determined distance between the personalelectronic device and the electronic transaction device with theretrieved first predefined distance to assess whether the determineddistance is within the first predefined distance; when the comparisonwith the retrieved first predefined distance indicates that thedetermined distance is within the first predefined distance,automatically verifying and authorizing the initiated electronictransaction; when the comparison with the retrieved first predefineddistance indicates that the determined distance is not within the firstpredefined distance, retrieving a second predefined distance from theblock chain ledger system for the initiated electronic transaction,wherein the second predefined distance indicates a predefined distancefrom a proxy for the physical location of the electronic transactiondevice determined by characteristics of the electronic transactiondevice; comparing the determined distance between the personalelectronic device and the electronic transaction device with theretrieved second predefined distance to assess whether the determineddistance is within the second predefined distance; and when thecomparison with the retrieved second predefined distance indicates thatthe determined distance is within the second predefined distance,automatically verifying and authorizing the electronic transaction; whenthe comparison with the first secured zone and the comparison with thesecond secured zone indicate that the determined distance is neitherwithin the first secured zone or the second secured zone, rejecting theinitiated electronic transaction; and a display of the personalelectronic device an indication of the first predetermined distance fordetermining whether the transaction is authorized and to execute logicconfigured to allow the consumer to adjust the first predefined distanceto a larger or smaller distance.
 11. The system of claim 10 wherein theelectronic transaction device is at least one of an automated tellersystem or a point of purchase device.
 12. The system of claim 10 whereinthe personal electronic device is a mobile device.
 13. The system ofclaim 10, wherein the logic is further configured to display a graphicaluser interface to the consumer to facilitate adjusting the secondpredefined distance unique to the consumer.
 14. The method of claim 1wherein the characteristics of the electronic transaction deviceindicate that the electronic transaction device is a website.
 15. Thememory medium of claim 9 wherein the characteristics of the electronictransaction device indicate that the electronic transaction device is awebsite.
 16. The system of claim 10 wherein characteristics of theelectronic transaction device indicate that the electronic transactiondevice is a website.